CSBG Archive

Comic Book Easter Eggs – Calvin and Hobbes Cameos Galore!

In this feature, I share with you three comic book “easter eggs.” An easter egg is a joke/visual gag/in-joke that a comic book creator (typically the artist) has hidden in the pages of the comic for readers to find (just like an easter egg). They range from the not-so-obscure to the really obscure. So come check ‘em all out and enjoy! Also, click here for an archive of all the easter eggs featured so far! If you want to suggest an easter egg for a future column, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com (do not post your suggestion in the comments section!).

Today we take a look at a few Easter Eggs featuring Bill Watterson’s famed creations, Calvin and Hobbes!

First up, based on a suggestion from reader Francesco V., we have 1989’s Adventures of Superman #452 by Dan Jurgens and Dennis Janke. In the issue, Morgan Edge is trying to woo Cat Grant by lavishing presents upon her young son, Adam. Here, he gets a toy car and Adam brags about his friend that this will impress…

Next, reader Gibson pointed out this cute bit from 1990’s Power Pack #54 by Judy and Jon Bogdanove and Hilary Barta…

Francesco V. is back again with a suggestion of this bit from 1992’s Adventures of Superman #494, where Jerry Ordway, Tom Grummett and Doug Hazlewood feature Calvin and Hobbes prominently in the issue…

One last suggestion from reader Francesco V. for this bit from 1996’s Superman: The Man of Steel #56, where Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove (who is clearly a big Calvin and Hobbes fan) and Dennis Janke depict people getting their dreams come true care of Mr. Mxyzptlk…

I love the little touch with the school being named after Watterson.

Finally, we end with a Jim Davis Garfield comic strip with a small cameo from Calvin…

That’s it for this week! If you have a suggestion for future editions of Comic Book Easter Eggs, please drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!

Fun fact, I was recently rereading early ’90s Superman comics (an amazing era for the character) and I suddenly came to a shocking realization: Kerry Gammill and Tom Grummet are different people!

This is especially embarrassing, because I always considered myself to be big a fan of “him”. (And, indeed, I’m now a fan of them both!)

What can I say? They have similar styles, similar names, and similar careers! Somehow I smushed them together into one artist (who I didn’t realize had two different names in my mind.) Still, in retrospect, I can see that each distinct strengths and I should have been able to tell them apart.

A Horde of Evil Hipsters

“I can’t exactly articulate why, but seeing Calvin in a Garfield strip makes me angry. I guess I feel Davis is unworthy to even homage Watterson.”

For what it’s worth, I’m sure Watterson would be far more upset that his creation appeared in superhero comics. The man could be myopic in his opinions, and for all that he waxed lyrical about the potential of the comic strip, he did once proclaim all comic books stupid and juvenile by default.

cool arrow

TJCoolguy

It’s true. The reason you feel angry about it is that Watterson has always hated the idea of his stuff being used by others, and one of the reasons he quit. It’s the same reason I get pissed whenever I see a Calvin-pisses-on-(blank) sticker on some idiot’s car.

That being said, he did hold some pretty strong opinions that imply he was pretty unyielding to others’ forms of creativity. The exact quote was in a description under a comic about Calvin reading some dumb, stereotypically ’90s comic, but the description was in a collection from the early 2000s and (if I remember right) ended with the words “comic books are still profoundly stupid.”

mrclam

Comics Journal: What about Jim Davis?
Bill Watterson: Uh…Garfield is…(long pause)…consistent.
CJ: Ooo-kay
BW: US Acres I think is an abomination
CJ: Never seen it.
BW: Lucky you. Jim Davis has his factory in Indiana cranking out this strip…I find it an insult to the intelligence.

mrclam

@TJ-point taken. Here’s the quote I think you’re talking about:
“You can make your superhero a psychopath, you can draw gut-splattering violence, and you can call it a “graphic novel,” but comic books are still incredibly stupid.”

mrclam

CJ: Let’s talk about your peers for a bit.
BW: You’re gonna get me in trouble.
CJ: No, no; you can say anything you want.
BW: Yeah, that’s what’s going to get me in trouble!

He can also be inexplicably gracious. About B.C. he says, “I admire the simplicity…it’s better than many” and he also dropped this shocker: “Cathy is…cleverly written and it has a level of honesty to it that you don’t often see on the comics pages.” Yikes!

Sreve

Peter David also did a homage to C&H in DC’s second Star Trek series. I can’t remember the exact issues, but it was the infamous “Sweeney” storyline. One mof the colonists children in the story was clearly based on Calvin’s “Spaceman Spiff” fantasies.

Michael P

X-Factor 36 has a several page opening sequence wherein Beast rescues a blond boy in a stripped shirt and his stuffed tiger from a demonically animated hot dog stand. (The hot dog stand’s behavior was due to the general spontaneous animation of objects across Manhattan as part of the Inferno crossover.)